East Oakland shooting leaves one teen dead, one injured

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Oakland police officers confer at the scene following a double shooting on Lion Way near 66th Avenue in Oakland, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. At least one person died in the shooting. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)

Spectators comfort each other at the scene of a double shooting on Lion Way near 66th Avenue in Oakland, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. At least one person died in the shooting. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)

An evidence technician walks through numbered evidence markers that indicate the spots where police found spent shell casings following a double shooting on Lion Way near 66th Avenue in Oakland, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. At least one person died in the shooting. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)

Numbered evidence markers indicate the spots where police found spent shell casings following a double shooting on Lion Way near 66th Avenue in Oakland, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. At least one person died in the shooting. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)

OAKLAND — A teenage girl who friends described as an innocent victim is dead and a teenage boy was injured in a double shooting at an East Oakland housing complex on Sunday afternoon, police said.

The fatal shooting of the 15-year-old girl is the second time a teenager has been killed at the Lion Creek Crossing housing complex since July and comes exactly one year after a 5-year-old boy was killed outside his father’s taco truck about one mile away.

“I heard the shots and my son came running to the house and said, ‘Mom, this girl just got shot, there’s blood,” said Latasha Bailey, 28, quoting her 9-year-old son.

Bailey, who lives in the housing complex, said she ran outside, saw the girl on the ground and the girl’s friend performing CPR.

“But she was already gone,” Bailey said Sunday night as she stood behind yellow police tape at the scene.

Officers were called around 3:40 p.m. to the housing complex in the 6600 block of Lion Way for reports of shots being fired, said police spokeswoman Johnna Watson. When officers arrived, they found the girl fatally shot and a 14-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound that was not life threatening. He was taken to a hospital, Watson said. Both of the victims are from Oakland.

Authorities have not released the girl’s name, but her friends described her as kind. Friends were comforting her family at the scene, where a dozen police cars and as many evidence markers remained as of 6 p.m.

Weeping was audible in the cold night air.

“She was a really nice girl,” said friend Jakil Sarhim, 15, who lives across the street from where the shooting took place.

Alisha Walker, 39, also lives in the complex and said she was inside her home when she heard a dozen shots rang out.

“I was like, ‘Here we go again with the gunshots.’ But this time I heard sirens,” she said. “I knew something was wrong.”

A preliminary investigation revealed that the teenagers were walking with a group of people east on Lion Way near the complex when a male suspect, who police said was a lone gunman, approached and started firing at them, Watson said.

Police described the suspect as a black teenager, age 13 to 16, about 5-foot-5 and possibly wearing a red T-shirt. A motive for the double shooting has not been established, according to police.

The housing complex, which is near 66th Avenue and the Oakland Coliseum, was where 15-year-old Hadari Askari was gunned down on July 10.

On Dec. 30, 2011, 5-year-old Gabriel Martinez Jr. was shot and killed in front of his family’s taco truck at 5490 International Blvd., the 110th and final homicide of 2011.

Sunday’s slaying is the city’s 131st homicide in 2012.

June Allison, stood next to her son, Jakil Sarhim, outside the housing complex Sunday night and shook her head.

Allison, who has lived in the neighborhood for 21 years, called the killing senseless.

“I want more police presence here. At least for the kids,” she said as she glanced at the taped off homicide scene. “It’s just not safe here anymore.”